360 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



himself could not cast out this stubborn spirit. 

 Jesus says, " If thou canst believe, all things 

 are possible to him that believeth." You see 

 it was want of faith from beginning to end. 

 It was this feeble half-heartedness — the unwill- 

 ingness to accept the evidence all round about 

 them, or, if you choose, all round about tis, of 

 "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 

 of the world."' 



The poor father's touching reply has come 

 down through the ages. Even Daniel Web- 

 ster, not long before his death, when he ac- 

 cepted Jesus Christ as the Son of God and /its 

 S.'ivior, said, repeating the words of this poor 

 father, " Lord, I believe ; help thou mine un- 

 belief." 



When it was noised abroad that the Savior 

 himself had tackled this evil spirit whose work 

 they had witnessed for so many years, they 

 carne running together. Matthew and Luke 

 tell us he rebuked the devil. How much that 

 word " rebuked " expresses ! Mark alone 

 tells us just what he said. " Thou dumb and 

 deaf spirit, I charge thee come out of him, and 

 enter no more into him." It was as if you 

 should tell some one who had insulted you 

 grievously in your own home, " Get out of 

 this house this instant, and sfaj otiL" Mat- 

 thew says the child was healed from that very 

 hour. But Mark tells us that even the pres- 

 ence of Chiist, the Son of God, was not suffi- 

 cient to check the aivfid audacity of the 

 prince of darkness. He says, "The spirit 

 cried and rent him sore." I can imagine the 

 demon uttering a shriek, and doing his best to 

 finish up then and there what he had long 

 been working for ; for Mark adds, "And he 

 was as one dead, insomuch that many said. He 

 is dead." And who shall say he was not 

 dead? for Mark adds, " But Jesus took him 

 by the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose." 

 Jesus restored him to life exactly as he lifted 

 the damsel but a short time before, as she 

 lay on her bed a corpse. Satan had evidently 

 forgotten Jesus could bring back to life even 

 one who had passed through the portals of 

 death. Luke says, "And they were all 

 amazed at the mighty power of God." We 

 can imagine the disciples standing about, 

 timid and trembling. We know they were 

 a little afraid of the Master. Perhaps it was 

 only a reverential godly fear, however ; but 

 in this case remembering, probably, what he 

 said when they first told him they could do 

 nothing with the evil spirit, they waited until 

 he had gone into the house and sat down, 

 then they gathered around him and said, 

 " Lord, why could not zve cast him out?" 

 Matthew and Mark use the same words. Mark 

 gives us simply the words of our text. But 

 we are very glad that Matthew remembered 

 something more that he added to make it 

 plain. He replied, "Because of your unbe- 

 lief. For verily I say unto you, if ye have 

 faith as a grain of nmstard seed ye shall say 

 unto this mountain. Remove hence to yonder 

 place, and it shall remove ; and nothing shall 

 be impossible unto you." 



Dear friends, perhaps I had better be honest 

 with you and tell you plainly that this last 

 quotation has always been something of a 



stumbling block to me. It seems to my poor 

 human vision that the dear Savior exaggerated 

 — that he put it too strongly. A grain of mus- 

 tard seed is an exceedingly small thing ; and 

 then, again, a mountain is an exceedingly 

 large thing ; and, finally, nothing shall be 

 impossible. Why, it makes me think of Fran- 

 cis Truth (begging pardon for the illustration) 

 when he announces in the magazines and the 

 eastern papers that there are now no incurable 

 diseases. Thank God, I do not need to argue 

 now that Francis Truth was a bad and wicked 

 man. When Uncle Samuel got hold of him 

 and revealed his iniquity, everybody gave up. 

 Let us now consider the text a little. "^^ 



I like Matthew's version of it, especially 

 after what he had said about the mustard seed, 

 the mountain, and impossibilities. Matthew 

 tells us that Jesus wound up the subject by say- 

 ing, " Howbeit, this kind goethnotout but by 

 prayer and fasting." The word "howbeit" 

 is particularly expressive ; and the words 

 " this kind " are suggestive. He admits for 

 the encouragement, or at least I think it might 

 have been some encouragement to them, that 

 this zvas really a particularly hard case. The 

 demon had got so intrenched into the heart 

 and soul of the boy, and had been there so 

 many years, he had become saucy, impudent, 

 and overbearing. He even attempted to defy 

 the Son of God himself. 



" This kind ! " Dear friends, are there any 

 of " this kind " present in this day and age of 

 the world ? Wherr the Clark local-option bill 

 was defeated at Columbus, Mrs. Root said, 

 " Why, how can it be that God permits such 

 awful wickedness? " or somesuch expression. 

 Others voiced the same thing. The daring 

 and effrontery might well suggest, " Does God 

 reign, or has Satan gotten the upper hand of 

 every thing ? " The Daily News and Herald, 

 of Cleveland, O., says : 



The liquor vote in Ohio is estimated at thirty thou- 

 sand. On the other hand, the Anti-saloon l,eague, 

 which is actively supporting the bill, has an active 

 membership of about one hundred thousand, and the 

 total chuich vote in the State which will be influenced 

 by the defeat or passage of the Clark bill is estimated 

 at nearly 250,000. 



It ought not to take one who simply looks at the 

 political side of the question long to decide whether it 

 would be better to serve the thirty thousand liquor 

 voters or try to please the quarter of a million church 

 voters. 



There is no good reason why the Clark bill should 

 be opposed. It provides an eminently fair way of 

 leaving to the people the decision of the question 

 whether liquor shall be sold in the wards of cities, 

 and no man who believes that the majority should 

 rule can object to its passage. 



I think the above is about the truth of the 

 matter. What in the world is the matter of 

 the 100,000 Anti-saloon people and the 250,000 

 church members, or church-member voters, if 

 you choose. As to that matter of fasting and 

 prayer, has that any thing to do with it? I do 

 not understand that we are really to go with- 

 out regular meals two or three days, and spend 

 our time in prayer ; but I think the expres- 

 sion means now and did *lien, that when we 

 care enough about defeating Satan to go with- 

 out our meals rather than let him run ram- 

 pant, then we shall prevail with God. We 

 have done praying enough, perhaps, of one 

 kind — may be too much. But there is another 



